Ten Thoughts on the NFL: Chicago Bears and beyond

Lester's not here. I have thoughts. Let's do this.

1. Hey, look, this guy is a real dum-dum.

Besides the fact that no amount of air inflation is going to take away the most bone-headed goalline pass of the 2014 season, we're still hearing about Tom Brady, deflated footballs, and other general nonsense.

Oh, there's more general nonsense?

Recently some enterprising individual dropped more than $40k on one of the footballs used in the AFC championship game.

Quite frankly, I've never really understood the memorabilia market, or had collector mentality.  But even if I did, I still think that'd be way too damn much.\

2. This just seems silly at this point.

You may remember, a couple weeks ago I told you about the U.S. football team, who was embarking on the quest to bring home the IFAF (International Federation of American Football) Championship.

In what should surprise absolutely no one, the team from the country where the sport was invented won quite handily, defeating Japan in the gold medal game 59-12.  Yes, that is like when the Patriots played the Bears last year.

That's not even the most impressive part, though. They won their semi-final game 82-0 over France. The U.S. is currently undefeated in IFAF play.

3. Brett Favre gets minor acknowledgment, world explodes

In case you didn't hear, Brett Favre was inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame this weekend. This thing that should have easily been logical and required virtually no thought whatsoever was apparently the biggest thing on the planet.

To make sure you read that properly, this is the TEAM hall of fame. Not the NFL hall of fame. Not the Human Being hall of fame. The hall of fame of one team. I realize bitterness is in play here but the over-the-topness of it borders on the ridiculous.

4. Lamarr Houston Don't Care

You may remember when Lamarr Houston blew out his knee celebrating his only sack of the season in a blowout to New England.

You may have thought that was a dum-dum move.

Feel free to have your opinions, Houston says, because he doesn't care:

"People can say whatever they want. They're not wrong to question why I celebrated and they're not wrong to say I shouldn't have celebrated. That's their opinion. And it doesn't bother me. I had reason to celebrate."

Let's work something out here.  For the purposes of this, I feel like we can assume that "not wrong" is generally equal to "right"

So people are right to question it, and they're right to say that he shouldn't have. But he did it, so doesn't that make him, y'know...wrong?

5. This feels so very Chiefs

The Kansas City Chiefs say that they're getting tougher on defense.

Says defensive lineman Mike Devito:

"We're building a bully," he told the team's website. "We're going to be the team that you don't want to play on Sunday."

The Chiefs really seem to have their focus down, you know.

I mean, yeah, sure, they didn't score any touchdowns with their wide receivers last year. And yeah, sure, they just happened to accomplish that in an era where the game could not be more stacked in favor of quarterbacks and wide receivers.

They should probably focus on that defense.

6. The Buccaneers are the wave of the future

Tampa Bay announced today that they've bought a fancy new virtual reality simulator to help Jameis Winston get better at playing quarterback.

We are excited to be coming in on the front end of this new wave of technology that is designed to supplement the on-field and classroom work that our quarterbacks are already doing," general manager Jason Licht said.

Alright, then. I'm not necessarily against this, I suppose. This could revolutionize quarterback training and defense reading, but I bet you look like a giant dork while you're doing it.

I suppose this all comes full circle, though, because I once tried out a virtual reality thing in a mall in Tampa Bay in the late 80s/early 90s, so it's a good thing they've looped back around to the trend I started.

7a. Hey you guys, the NFL might not have the players best interests at heart

When we talk about a league that has a punishment structure in place that has crazy drug rules, yet bungles an entire situation when there is videotape of you punching your lady friend, it is shocking, SHOCKING, that two teams might work together to try and save some money.

The NFLPA may still investigate whether the Broncos and Cowboys colluded to set a market for wide receiver contracts.

Sure, five year, 70 million dollar deals coming at the same time seems iffy enough, but that could also just be the market.  It's hard to say. Now, if these dum-dums kept copies of them having conversations about fixing the price, that's dumb, but it leads to another point that's bothered me for a while...

7b. Why should I care what football players make?

It has little to no effect on me. If a billionaire wants to make another guy a multimillionaire because the other guy possesses physical skills that I don't, and a willingness to suffer debilitating brain/spinal/other injuries, why should that affect me?

8. The NFL could've had Trump?!

Donald Trump, who is in the news for reasons that we're absolutely not going to allow discussed in the comments today, was in talks to buy the Patriots back in 1988.

Ultimately, the deal fell through for reasons, but of course, they're not clear. Trump's team maintains that they bailed because of the Patriots' financial state, which makes sense, but there's also talk that his chances of being approved by the other owners was slim.

Either way, I feel like we really missed out on a lot. Imagine if you kept everything the same, so that Coach B was working for Trump. Classic. Instant classic.

9.  And now, Rex Ryan presented without comment

Rex Ryan jumped with the @ArmyGK on Friday. Read his reaction once he was back on land: http://t.co/ShBkHvOzbS pic.twitter.com/N0mLWWF5XF

— Buffalo Rumblings (@BuffRumblings) July 19, 2015

10. This NFL person actually understands the right thing

The Dolphins drafted Cedric Thompson in the fifth round of this year's draft. The rookie is trying to absorb a lot right now-the pro game, life as an adult, and a lot more free time than he's used to having. And he's using it right.

Thompson was recently approached by a homeless man who was looking for food. Where many of us (self-included) may have given a brusque "no", and continued on, Thompson engaged the gentleman.  He found out that he was trying to get some food for himself and his daughters.  Thompson agreed to help and made a short, but personal connection with the man.

You can read the full story on his blog, but his closer is the best part:

And that’s what I wish we could all do more of as a society. Get to know people and get to know their story before jumping to conclusions and passing judgment on them. Instead of judging and labeling people, how about we use that same amount of energy and effort to get to know them. I may have helped this man feel a little less hungry and a little less alone the other day, but the truth is, he reminded me of a lesson that was just as – if not more – important. And for that, I too am thankful.

Even if Thompson gets scored on at will by the Patriots, at least he seems to have his head on straight.

Tell us your thoughts.  Have a nice week. Make good choices.